Nikon D7200 Manual

[Cloris Sopha]

Im a musician and sometime photographer that's getting into DSLR video to shoot videos for my band. I picked up a D3100 last year with a mind to getting to grips with video in 2015. We've done one video using a GoPro and i've started climbing the Premiere learning curve (I have a CC account with work - I'm a designer) but now we're planning our second video. I've bought a decent Manfrotto tripod and fluid head as well as spare batts and cards etc, and have been reading a load of tutorials.

Like many, I'm interested in the 'film look' and the D3100 will shoot 24p at 1080p, which is great. However, as i read more I'm realising that it's actually nigh on impossible (fiddly hacks aside) to have full manual control of the video settings in the D3100.

I think you can shoot fully manual on the D3100. Set it to M-mode on the Top dial, turn your lens to Manual focusing, flick the live view trigger around the record button and you should be good to go. Only thing I don't know is if it has any limitations in terms of aperture changes and ISO adjustment during recording.

As for the Nikon cameras you should use. I have used both the D7000 and D800.. The best option from what I have seen is the D5200 & D5300, great image quality in those cams and better framerate and compression compared to older nikons.

And just to point out - the hacks in the videos I posted aren't something you can install. It's just a way of getting round the no manual control issue by pointing the camera at a certain scene and locking the exposure before recomposing. I'm not getting into that... :-)

I'm not sure I'll need to change any settings apart from focus during the actual shots (most of which are very short apart from full performances which are still only 2-3min and in a controlled environment).

The 7100 is fantastic for the $$ and I've shot many a corporate interview and broadcast spot with it. The 5300 is also gorgeous and gives you full 1080p at 60 fps (the 7100 only has 720 for 60p - for music videos, you may find 60p to be pretty handy for nice smooth slowmo). The 5300 is more of the "toy size" with some feature limits though. The 7100 has the screw drive for older AF lenses without internal motors. I find AF to be very handy for initial focus on steadicams or on cranes, especially on a crane with wired remote and monitoring via HDMI - the 7100 takes a cheap $9 wired remote that will set initial focus via AF and trigger recording, the 5300 doesn't have the remote jack. You can also cut into the remote cable and splice in mini 1/8 stereo m/f jacks, and use a headphone extension to get a longer cable, and simply plug the cable back together when you need the short size).

Many, many music videos I do, I speed up the synch tracks enough that I can record 30p, and then transcode the video down to 24p to match the original track. This gives a very slight slowmo that gives a little weight & "gravitas" to many types of shots. (I use audacity or protools, speed up but same pitch). And then transcode (not re-render) so you have frame-for-frame footage. Both Nikons will shoot 30p so no problem there. 60P is really too fast to synch anything but the slowest song.

Hmm. You know, I don't know about the 28-70/2.8. It's a nice lens, but it's also an old lens. And unlike the AIS lenses, old AF-S lenses are horrendous to get repaired when the SWM breaks down. If Nikon no longer has parts that's it for the lens. I helped a friend fix his 80-200 AFS and it took three weeks as Nikon specially imported the last of the SWM reserves for that lens from Japan.

All of the cameras on this list are a great step up in video quality from your d3100, except for the D3200 and D7000 which have similar quality to D3100 (heavy aliasing and moire, bad rolling shutter, noisy above 800), the D5200+ solve aliasing, better ISO performance and generally very solid video cameras.

To be fair, they're not bad for single-shot. So if your subject doesn't move it's usable. But if you are going to buy a monitor then better rely on that I am on the verge of getting a D600 myself. Mainly for photography but will be using it as a B-cam too. Maybe as an A cam in some situations actually as the colours and tonal range in the shadows is better than my Panasonic.

Inazuma: You'll be surprised by how F#$%ing gorgeous it looks for everything but wide landscapes where moire shows up. We're camera nerds that's why the D600 gets often looked over for aliasing even when it makes one of the most beautiful fullframe-look images for cheap, perfect for narrative/drama and people's shots, lovely colours and shallow DOF. It makes people look better than they are.

on AF, nobody does it right except for Canon cameras with Dual Pixel AF, the 70D and 7D mk II. The 70D which is priced on the D7100 level is a much worse video camera, mainly for aliasing and moire, so the only camera that will give be as good as the D7100 and have great video AF is the much more expensive 7D mk II. So yes, noone does AF well now in a good video camera, get a d7100 and practise manual focus, it's a great skill to master as an image maker anyway

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